now

Let’s keep it that simple, remember this: To your customers social media is about right now.

When they are posting, commenting, and otherwise sharing it is about the moment. To fully take advantage of your marketing efforts, the content creation, sharing, and presence you have built, you have to be ready and able to respond and interact with them in the moment.

Here is one proactive example of what I mean:

Restaurants are uniquely positioned to leverage life’s moments, birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, and weddings all usually result in a dinner of some sort. Luckily those life moments are also one of the leading causes of traffic and visits on social media site, and as an active participant you can offer best wishes, freebies, rehearsal dinner menus, etc to the members of your online social networks.

Here is one reactive example of what I mean:

If you are an active content sharer online, meaning you share daily the photos, videos, menus, and specials that your restaurant creates, you undoubtedly get responses and comments from your social circle in response to your content. You clearly have someone interested in your place at that point, take that opportunity to interact with them and solidify the connection. Make sure they feel your humanity through the technology, there are plenty of robots online and most consumers are already immune to their automated responses. Be human.

So remember, to your guest (or potential guest) their participation in social media is about right now. The moment they are online and reaching out to you, that kind of pre-sale interaction has never been possible before in marketing. Take advantage of it, it may very well feel like a new responsibility for restaurant operators who want to be the best of their breed, but it is a responsibility that results in real profits.

Harnessing that opportunity in real time is one component of the GuestFeed service that I use for my restaurant clients on a daily basis, and I do it with proven results. Here is an example of that laid out for you: Case Study

Hopefully you find this helpful and remember: I am here to talk about what you are facing, at any time.